Triple Lanterns Café is one of the stilt houses in Tai O Village (Hong Kong), offering beautiful views of the canal, the bridge and sunset, besides great pizzas, cakes and coffees. What makes this café really special though is Julia, the owner, who is always happy and cheerful, and ready for a conversation with every customer. During our visit to Triple Lanterns yesterday, we talked about the story behind the café, dreams, happiness, success, customer service and the importance of slowing down to enjoy life… parts of which were also captured on my phone. Here’s an edited version, and I hope it inspires somebody to follow through on their dreams…

I am extremely encouraged and humbled to see that Mush Talks have had over 36,000 views on YouTube since the first one in May 2016! This one was recorded at Hong Kong airport this morning, edited during the flight, and uploaded during transit at Dubai airport…

This talk was inspired by how Mashal (my 19-year daughter) fulfilled her dream of going to the US with her own money, through the 4-steps I’ve been using and teaching for many years: Dream, Goal, Plan and Action. She had been working part-time and on weekends, with her full-time studies, and saving for over two years. What made it possible was her focus on small goals – the number of hours she needed to work every week and the amount she had to save every month – and doing it consistently. She left yesterday for three weeks of holiday and three months of studies at the Savannah campus of SCAD!

Here are some quotes about ‘small steps’ for further inspiration:

Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together. ~Vincent Van Gogh

Each step you take reveals a new horizon. You have taken the first step today. Now, I challenge you to take another. ~Dan Poynter

It is better to take many small steps in the right direction than to make a great leap forward only to stumble backward. ~Old Chinese Proverb

Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out. ~Robert Collier

Be not afraid of growing slowly, be afraid only of standing still. ~Chinese Proverb

Have a bias toward action – let’s see something happen now. You can break that big plan into small steps and take the first step right away. ~Indira Ghandi

I long to accomplish a great and noble task; but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble. ~Helen Keller

It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop. ~Confucius

The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. ~Lao Tzu

The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking you complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one. ~Mark Twain

I could script these talks, do a few rehearsals, record professionally with mics and lights, edit better, put music and effects and titles and captions… but then I wouldn’t be able to do one a week. I hope these zero-cost productions are still good enough to inspire some.

Wow, I am so happy with myself – 10 videos in 12 weeks! Also quite surprised and extremely grateful at the number of views, particularly Mush Talks #2 (6800 views) and Mush Talks #9 (4100 views). Thank you for watching and sharing!

Five related quotes:

The best way to cheer yourself up is to cheer somebody else up.

The time to be happy is now. The place to be happy is here. And the way to be happy is making others happy.

The happiest people are the ones who make others happy.

If you have the power to make someone happy, do it. The world needs more of that.

Give what you want to receive. If you want happiness, make others happy.

While packing for the move, I saw some of my childhood pictures that reminded me how scared I used to be, of so many things – darkness, loneliness, dogs, water/drowning, heights and more. And I realised how so many people go through their entire lives with one or more fears. That inspired this blog post. Sorry, no ‘Mush Talks‘ this Sunday.

I am not an expert on overcoming fears, but have successfully applied a simple strategy for anything I was scared of: Jump right in. That’s what made it possible not only to overcome many of the fears, but enjoy some of the most memorable adventures like scuba diving, skydiving, zip-lining, swimming with whale sharks etc. I hope these quotes and the skydive video inspire you to overcome at least one of your fears. If they don’t, then just jump right in!

There is no illusion greater than fear. Lao Tzu

The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear. Nelson Mandela

He who is not everyday conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Fears are educated into us, and can, if we wish, be educated out. Karl Augustus Menninger

Fear: False Evidence Appearing Real. Unknown

I am not afraid of tomorrow, for I have seen yesterday and I love today. William Allen White

Fear is only as deep as the mind allows. Japanese Proverb

Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. The fearful are caught as often as the bold. Helen Keller

The enemy is fear. We think it is hate; but, it is fear. Gandhi

Courage is not the absence of fear. It’s the ability to act in the presence of fear. Bruce Lee

Last week I talked about how happiness affects our relationships, work, health and success in life. So this week, I start talking about ways to increase our level of happiness – starting with gratefulness. Not mentioned in the video, but being happy and grateful for everything we have doesn’t mean we can’t strive for more and better.

Some beautiful quotes on gratitude:

Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has plenty; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some. –Charles Dickens

Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance. –Eckhart Tolle

If a fellow isn’t thankful for what he’s got, he isn’t likely to be thankful for what he’s going to get. Frank A. Clark

If you want to turn your life around, try thankfulness. It will change your life mightily. –Gerald Good

Gratitude turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity…it makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow. –Melody Beattie

He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has. –Epictetus

Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough. –Oprah Winfrey

Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn’t learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn’t learn a little, at least we didn’t get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn’t die; so, let us all be thankful. –Buddha

It is impossible to feel grateful and depressed in the same moment. –Naomi Williams

A decade of research reveals that happy people are 31% more productive, 19% more accurate, 37% more successful in sales… – Shawn Achor in ‘The Happiness Advantage’

We don’t go to work to be happy… you are at work to do the best possible job you can and to constantly excel and improve your performance. But we happen to do that much better when we are happy at work. -Alexander Kjerulf in ‘Happy Hour is 9 to 5‘

I look forward to the next three talks in which I’ll share the three steps to increase our happiness. Thank you for watching 🙂